Dark Carnival Murders (7 page)

"I’m hoping Buck calls us
after he gets briefed by Dark. All we can do is wait until after
midnight," I said.

"So are you going to stay
here while we wait?" Lynn asked.

"Oh hell no, I’m taking my
beautiful wife home and I’ll call you when I hear from my spies." I
looked to Penny and said, "Shall we go get something to eat then go
relax at home?"

Penny expressed her
agreement and we said our good-byes and left. We drove out after we
agreed on a place to eat, so we went to Arturo’s and had a nice sit
down meal. We were back home and I let Willy out to do his
business.

"Hey Mr. R. I thought I
heard you guys pull in," Angelo said over the side fence, startling
me.

"Hey Angelo, how’s your
day going? Did you accomplish everything you set out to
do?"

"Yep, had a nice visit
with some new friends and then I talked to my mother. Is Mrs. R. in
the house?"

"Sure Angelo, go on in,
she was in the kitchen last I saw her."

"Thanks," he said and went
to the patio door and called in. I heard Penny yell to come in and
he vanished through the opening. Willy had finished his business
and I cleaned up after him then we went back in. Angelo and Penny
were in the living room sitting on the couch talking. I plopped
down next to Penny and listened to their conversation.

"She said she’d call you
as soon as she got in town," Angelo was saying.

Penny turned to me and
said, "Francis is going to be here Tuesday for five days then go
back to New York. Gino is coming also, but that’s not for public
knowledge. So you and the head of the Traviano mob family can go do
men things," she said with a grin.

"What, target practice?
Angelo, is Gino coming out for business or pleasure?" I
asked.

"A little of both, he has
business but it won’t take long, then he is going to relax around
the pool of the Tropicana."

I figured it wouldn’t take
long to whack someone, then relax. Penny spoke, "Tell Gino he can
come and relax around our pool."

"I’ll tell him but he
likes the scenery around the public pools. More bikinis to watch,"
Angelo said with a sly smile.

"Now that I can agree on,"
I said.

"Don’t agree too hard, I
still look good in a bikini."

I better agree or lose my
head, "Yes babe, you still got it."

We sat relaxing with our
beer and TV then Angelo went off to his little home as Penny and I
waited for some news from Buck.

~~*~~

Around midnight the
carnival had started to close up, Skeeter came to Buck and said
that Dark wanted them. Buck and Mac followed Skeeter to the office
and they went in. Dark was in a small office in the back of the
trailer and welcomed them. Skeeter left and the two men sat before
Dark.

"Glad you agreed to help
with my little venture. I’m going by what Piper told me about your
background, and I’m trusting your word on Mac. Are either of you
against a little criminal activities?"

"Anything but murder,
we’re open for," Buck answered.

"No nothing like that, I’m
in the life business. I have certain clients who need people to
work for them and they have special needs for who they are. Many of
my clients need women and occasionally young men of certain ages
and ethnicities to work for them."

Buck smiled and said,
"Cutting to the chase, we’re talking about human trafficking aren’t
we?"

Dark grinned his evil
smirk and said, "Yes, you do understand. Have you ever been
involved in this?"

"I got into a little of it
out in New York, I was involved with a company called Rex Erotica.
They were grabbing strippers from Detroit."

Dark perked up and said,
"Ah yes, I’ve heard about that, messy business and untimely end for
the owners."

"I was on the fringes
between Detroit and New York, transporting the strippers, so I
never got caught. Now let’s get to it, what do you want Mac and me
to do?"

"The both of you are very
good looking and masculine. I’ve watched and could see you attract
a number of very nice looking ladies. All you have to do is get
them talking, flirt a little then invite them to an after-hours
party that I will be having at the Luxor Hotel. Once you have them
there, I have people who will take care of the rest. Simple enough
and it will earn you a little extra in your draw pay."

"Sounds good to me, are
you in?" Buck looked to Mac.

"I’m fine with it," Mac
said quietly.

"Okay you start tomorrow,
it’s better to pull them in later, after dark when the best come
out, and less time for them to change their minds."

"Do you need a certain
number of bodies?" Buck asked.

"Well, no more than four
good ones. Let’s not make it too difficult. So go get some beauty
sleep, tomorrow we start."

*

Chapter 9

It was almost
twelve-thirty when my cell phone buzzed, I saw by the caller ID
that it was Buck. I answered, "Hey, what’s happening?"

"Dark is a bastard. He
wants Mac and me to lure four women into a party at the Luxor where
someone will kidnap them and put them into slavery. I don’t have
the details as to where they go, but hopefully tomorrow I’ll have
more for you. Tim and his cop buddies came by and asked Mac and me
a few questions about the missing boys, they did good to not give
us away. Tim said they scoured the whole place and found no one
that had any answers."

"Of course not; they
wouldn’t give anything away to the cops. I’ll call Lynn and maybe
we can figure out something to keep the women you attract safe from
harm. Are you able to take calls again tonight?"

"Yeah, Mac and I are in
his camper, so it’s safe to take calls. I’ll be awake for a while
and wait to hear from you."

"Okay, hang in and I’ll
get back to you." I hung up and dialed Lynn, she came on after two
rings.

"What do you have for me?"
she said without saying hello.

"Buck said that he and Mac
are to lure four women into a party tomorrow night at the Luxor
where they will be kidnapped for transport to who knows where.
He’ll try and give me a few more details when he gets them. I have
an idea if you can work it out?"

"Talk to me, I’m always
interested in your ideas. It usually saves me from thinking," she
said with a laugh.

"Can you have Deacon see
if they have some undercover female officers in vice that could
pose as Buck’s guests to this party? Maybe wire them and have your
men waiting to follow where ever they take them."

"I got it, yes that could
work. I’ll tell Deacon and have him arrange it. Tell Buck the plan
and I’ll arrange for the women to give Buck a signal as to who they
are."

"Get it set up and get
back to me. I’ll pass it on to Buck."

Lynn said she would and we
hung up. I called Buck back and told him my idea, he liked it.
"I’ll call you again with whatever Lynn can come up with," I
said.

We finished the call and I
put my head back on the couch.

"Hey, you can’t rest,
there are children out there missing and you have to find them,"
Penny said.

"Babe, if Buck and Mac
haven’t found them yet, I don’t think I could tonight. We have a
lead now and hopefully it will pan out to finding where they are
taking the boys. But it won’t happen until tomorrow, so we need to
get some rest now."

"All right, but don’t get
too lazy on this. Now I’m going to bed, you can join me, but for
sleep only." She stood and went off to the bedroom, leaving me
thinking about the activities of the last couple days. I hated it
when my mind wandered and I wanted to sleep. It wasn’t a good
combination.

I stood and let my body
fall into place since I had been on the couch for the last five
hours. I followed my wife to the bedroom and found her in bed
already, asleep. She was fast on her feet and fast in
bed.

I undressed quietly and
slid under the new satin sheets we bought. They felt cool and
slippery on my weary body, I relaxed. I lay there thinking back to
when Buck, Earl and I had gone on a mission to track down the
trafficking of strippers from Detroit to New York. Rex Erotica had
an office in the north of Detroit and the women they grabbed where
chained and held captive until the runners could transport them to
the whorehouses of New York where they were forced to prostitute
themselves. The office where they were held captive was disgusting
and the women were treated badly. We rescued Angelo’s cousin’s
girlfriend from the human trafficking machine and shut them down.
Unfortunately, I took a bullet on that adventure and almost died,
but Penny and the Traviano mob family stood by me as I recovered.
Say what you will about mob families, they are concerned about
their friends.

It didn’t take long for me
to pass out, I was asleep before the sun came up. When it did, my
cell phone buzzed and it was Lynn.

"Just couldn’t wait to
wake me," I said as I looked to the digital clock on my bed stand,
it read six-thirty.

"And miss a chance to get
you up? I wanted to call an hour ago, but Deacon stopped me. I got
some info for you to pass on to Buck," she said.

I came a little more awake
on that note. I rolled over and saw Penny heading to her bathroom
and turned my head to see Willy staring at me from where Penny was
last sleeping. The dog licked my nose quickly, I pulled back and
asked, "Did Deacon find a couple undercover officers to go to
Dark’s party?"

"Oh, yes he did. After it
came out why we needed the undercover, we had more than enough
volunteers to go to the carnival and get set up. I can send out six
female officers to the party if that’s enough?"

"Buck told me they only
needed four, so go with that. We can make it a total cop party;
that should scare up a few bad guys."

"Yes, but we don’t want
Dark to know his plan went south, we need to play it cautiously to
get the whole picture as to where they are taking the
women."

"Agreed, and I hope it is
the same place they are taking the boys. We need to set up a phrase
to let Buck know they are the undercover cops."

"How about, ‘Hi Buck, Jim
sent us’?"

"That’s a bit obvious, how
about ‘We’re here to party, Buck’?"

"I guess that could work,
we just need to be sure everyone is on the same page."

"Buck knows how to keep
the page the same. I’ll call him and get his end set up. Are you
going to check out the Luxor and see if there’s anyone renting a
room for a night?"

"Already got Warren on it.
He’ll find the room and we will have the rooms on either side
covered. This is going to be fun."

"Just don’t shoot up the
Luxor, I’d hate to see your people get kicked out for excessive
partying. You’re not a rock band you know."

"Yea, well, we are going
to be putting on a rock show tonight so just let Buck in on the
plan. I’ll call later with further details," she said then hung
up.

Penny came out of her
bathroom and jumped back into bed, snuggling up close. I said, "You
had your chance last night, but you were too tired. So snuggle all
you want, I’m not in the mood."

She carefully put her hand
where it would start something, "You are evil," I said.

An hour later we were up
and dressed, I was pulling my phone to call Buck. He came on after
two rings, "Hey big guy, can you talk?"

"Yep, we’re still in the
camper and just getting ready to go out. What do you
have?"

"Lynn and Deacon have four
female undercover cops from Vice who will be approaching you and
saying ‘We’re here to party, Buck’. That’s your key to know it’s
them, try not to get too many other women involved."

"Will they be
wired?"

"I didn’t ask and Lynn
didn’t say, but I’m sure at least one will. They have to keep track
of what’s going on. Lynn said they are going to try and find which
room they will be in and have it surrounded by cops on both sides.
You’re sure Dark said the Luxor?"

"That’s what he said. If
it suddenly changes I’ll call."

"I hope it doesn’t change
now, there will be too many operations set up. But if it does, let
me know."

"Will do, I have to go to
work now, talk later." Buck hung up and I put my phone back in my
pocket.

Penny was in the kitchen
with Angelo whipping up a batch of pancakes, I didn’t
complain.

"Angelo, can you do some
snooping for me and see what you can come up with on a carnival
owned by Jacob Dark, with a CEO named Lucius Cole from Gibsonton,
Florida?" I asked.

"Gibsonton, that’s the
carnival city isn’t it?" Angelo asked as he wrote the information
on a pad of paper on the kitchen counter.

"As I understand it is. We
don’t have much on Cole yet, Dark is another matter, they don’t
have much on him at all."